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Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has quit the Cabinet over Prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey’s backing for the pensions dashboard in her speech at the Conservative Party Conference this week brought relief to the profession.

The use of the wrong platform to launch a petition against scrapping the pensions dashboard mean that the issue will not be debated in Parliament, despite surpassing 100,000 signatures.
 
The petition, which has so far reached 130,768 signatures, was set up on the 38 Degrees website, but to qualify for Parliamentary time petitions must be created on the official petition.parliament.uk website.

Aegon has slammed the process as “smacking of Yes, Minister bureaucracy.”
 
The petition calls on Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, to keep to previous Government pronouncements and to follow through with delivery of the pensions dashboard.
 


Normally once a petition reaches 100,000 signatures it is considered for debate in Parliament, but only if petitions filed use the Government’s petition service.
 
Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, said: “It’s ridiculous in this digital age that the Government insists on people using its own petition service to get something debated in Parliament, and smacks of Yes, Minister bureaucracy.

“The pensions dashboard is an important consumer-facing initiative and one that is backed not only by the pension industry but by many others.

“The fact that over 130,000 people have signed the petition in a matter of weeks shows people’s passion for the pensions dashboard and has generated welcome publicity.

“The Government needs to acknowledge this and debate the issue in Parliament.”

A petition against scrapping the pensions dashboard has garnered more than 100,000 signatures.

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Tens of thousands have called on Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey not to shelve the proposal, with the count up to 126,527 at the time of writing.

The petition, on website 38 Degrees, reads: “The Welfare Secretary Esther McVey wants to 'kill off' a new government website which would help millions of people keep track of their pensions throughout their careers, because she thinks it's not the Government's job to help.

“Without it millions of pension pots are at risk of being lost.

“According to estimates by the Department for Work and Pensions, 50 million pension pots will be lost by 2050 without an official website to help workers to keep track of savings through their careers.”



It added: “A huge petition signed by thousands of us will show the Government we expect them to keep their promises and continue to roll out the pensions dashboard.”

The success of the petition has been backed by fin-tech firm Origo and managing director Anthony Rafferty said:

“The petition launched by 38 Degrees, in response to media reports that the pensions dashboard might not go ahead has passed 100,000 signatures, showing the depth of feeling and the support that the initiative has in the country.

“The benefits of the pensions dashboard are easily seen and have clearly struck a chord with people.

“We at Origo have been passionate supporters of the pensions dashboard since the initiative was launched, believing it is essential to help individuals engage with their retirement planning, particularly in the new pensions environment which was ushered in with the Pension Freedoms.”

Reports that Pensions Secretary Esther McVey was planning to kill off the proposed pensions dashboard were branded “a huge let down to millions of savers.”

Royal London’s Steve Webb says the Government was right to resist calls for default decumulation retirement pathways.

Protecting consumers from unscrupulous scammers and conmen has been a priority for the financial services industry for some time.

Pension deductions from pay will treble for more than four million employees from today.

The Department for Work and Pensions has re-appointed Mark Boyle for a second three year term as non-executive chair of The Pensions Regulator.

The government has decided to put on the back burner any change to the auto-enrolment charge cap and will keep it at 0.75%.